Apple Warns iCloud Users Some Disabled Services Were Accidentally Re-enabled in iOS 10.3

Tuesday April 4, 2017 2:04 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today sent out emails to a small number of iCloud users, warning them that a bug in iOS 10.3 may have caused some iCloud services that had been disabled to be mistakenly re-enabled.

The email asks iCloud users to revisit their iCloud settings to make sure to turn off any service that might have been turned on through the iOS 10.3 update.

It's not entirely clear which iCloud services might have been affected, but MacRumors reader Karl, who sent us the email, said that he typically disables iCloud Mail. Following the update, he found the Mail option turned back on.
We discovered a bug in the recent iOS 10.3 software update that impacted a small number of iCloud users. This may have inadvertently reenabled some iCloud services that you had previously disabled on your device.

We suggest you go to iCloud settings on your iOS device to make sure that only the services you'd like to use are enabled.
Learn more about how to manage your iCloud settings or contact AppleCare with any questions.

The iCloud team
iOS 10.3, released on March 27, introduced a new Apple Filesystem among other major features like Find My AirPods, plus it included an overhauled iCloud storage breakdown, which may explain why some iCloud services were mistakenly turned back on.

To check which iCloud services are enabled on your iOS device, open the Settings app and scroll down to the "iCloud" section. A list of apps and services using iCloud is front and center, and anything that was enabled via iOS 10.3 can be turned off using the toggle buttons.

A wide range of first and third-party apps and services use Apple's iCloud feature, including Photos, Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Notes, Safari, News, and more.

Update: According to Apple, iCloud Photo Library, iCloud Keychain, and Find My iPhone were not affected by the issue. The bug has been fixed in the iOS 10.3.1 update, so those who have not yet updated to iOS 10.3 but choose to update to iOS 10.3.1 will not be impacted by the bug. Apple has not shared how many users were affected by the bug but says not everyone who updated to iOS 10.3 will experience it.

Tag: iCloud
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BasicGreatGuy
37 months ago
Good on Apple for being proactive and emailing those who might have been affected.
Rating: 12 Votes
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radioisotope
37 months ago
Can we just have one update that fixes more than it breaks?
Rating: 11 Votes
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myrtlebee
37 months ago


To check which iCloud services are enabled on your iOS device, open the Settings app and scroll down to the "iCloud" section.


This is no longer the way to do it (at least on my iPhone since 10.3). You have to open the Settings app and then tap your name at the top, then press "iCloud" in that menu. There's no longer an "iCloud" section to select on the main Settings menu.
Rating: 10 Votes
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mudflap
37 months ago

For me they removed random albums out of their folders and i had to manually drop them back into their folders. I guess i should be glad the albums werent removed all together this time around!

Never trust Apple with cloud services


More than 300 million iCloud accounts in the wild—can you imagine what would happen if Apple were as bad at cloud computing as some you believe they are?
Rating: 8 Votes
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itsmilo
37 months ago
For me they removed random albums out of their folders and i had to manually drop them back into their folders. I guess i should be glad the albums werent removed all together this time around!

Never trust Apple with cloud services
Rating: 7 Votes
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EM2013
37 months ago
They tend to have the silliest bugs despite going through 6-7 betas.
Rating: 6 Votes
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mariusignorello
37 months ago
Apple is at least being more interactive with us lately.

Remember, they don't have to acknowledge the bugs if they don't want to as they've done before.
Rating: 5 Votes
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coolfactor
37 months ago

Can we just have one update that fixes more than it breaks?


This isn't really a "break". Likely it would've had very little impact to anyone affected. A break would be something that does not function as intended, and none of these iCloud services were broken, just enabled by mistake.

Can we just have people be thankful for Apple working hard to give us the best devices, online and mobile experiences possible? When has someone stopped and said "Thanks, Apple, for your hard work and commitment to excellence." Things are going always going to be perfect, but at least they do try.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Dave-Z
37 months ago
This kind of crap happens on every iOS device I manage... Very nearly every iOS update I have to fix privacy settings, iCloud settings, notifications, etc. It's beyond frustrating and I've taken to installing configuration profiles to set most of the stuff up, but there are still settings that revert.

And as mentioned above, it really would be nice if an update didn't break stuff that was working fine already.
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More than 300 million iCloud accounts in the wild—can you imagine what would happen if Apple were as bad at cloud computing as some you believe they are?


Some of us don't have to imagine. ;-)
Rating: 3 Votes
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RealKrS
37 months ago

Good on Apple for being proactive and emailing those who might have been affected.

Are you serious? When it comes to IOS Updates, Apple’s quality control is a joke now. What would really be Proactive from Apple would be to get rid of all the clowns responsible for the issues coming with almost every single IOS Update for the past few years. Ok that might be a little Reactive too...
Rating: 3 Votes

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